My husband and I are planning to purchase a property in Chelsfield and have instructed a Chelsfield conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Alliance & Leicester have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Chelsfield solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the mortgage company. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Chelsfield lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
I have paid off my mortgage with Nationwide. I assume I don't need a Chelsfield conveyancing practitioner on the Nationwide panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your Nationwide mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Nationwide mortgage from the register. Nationwide, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
- but are not moving to another property
- where Nationwide has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Nationwide has instructed the Land Registry to do so
Planning on purchasing a house in Chelsfield. I have received an online quote from a licenced conveyancer, which states: "There will be no charge for dealing with the Building Society if you are obtaining a mortgage". I take this to mean that there will be no additional fee if the solicitor is on the UBS conveyancing panel. I wanted to make sure it means there will be no additional fees for dealing with the mortgage.
They are simply saying that the cost for acting for the lender is included in the fee being quoted. It is worth you checking that the Chelsfield solicitor is on the UBS conveyancing panel.
My offer was accepted on a house in Chelsfield on 2/7/2025, valuation was booked 3 days after, received a clean bill of health. Conveyancer appointed, so the only thing outstanding was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Kent Reliance and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?
A lender would not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Kent Reliance to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.
Should commercial conveyancing searches disclose impending roadworks that may impact a commercial property in Chelsfield?
Many commercial conveyancing solicitors in Chelsfield will perform a SiteSolutions Highways report as it reduces the time that conveyancers spend in investigating accurate data on highways that impact buildings and development assets in Chelsfield. The search result sets out definitive data on the adoption status of roads, footpaths and verges, as well as the implication of traffic schemes and the rights of way surrounding a commercial development sites in Chelsfield.
For each commercial conveyancing transaction in Chelsfield it is crucial to investigate the adoption status of roads surrounding a site. The absence of identifying developments where adoption procedures have not been addressed adequately may result in delays to Chelsfield commercial conveyancing deals as well as present a risk to future plans for the site. These searches are not conducted for domestic conveyancing in Chelsfield.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified during conveyancing in Chelsfield?
Covenants that are restrictive in nature can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in Chelsfield. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’
I work for a busy estate agency in Chelsfield where we have experienced a few flat sales derailed as a result of short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Chelsfield conveyancing solicitors. Can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?
Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser need not have to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.
An alternative approach is to agree the lease extension with the freeholder either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.
I have given up trying to purchase the freehold in Chelsfield. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?
Most definitely. We can put you in touch with a Chelsfield conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Chelsfield residence is 1 Southlands Court Southlands Road in September 2013. The Leasehold Valuation Tribunal determined that the premium to be paid by the tenant on the grant of a new lease, in accordance with section 56 and Schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 was £30,541 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The unexpired term as at the valuation date was 50.57 years.
Online reading suggests that Chelsfield solicitors are more expensive than licensed conveyancers in Chelsfield when it comes to purchasing a property. So is it better if I use a conveyancer or a solicitor where I am buying a property in Chelsfield.
When it comes to conveyancing in Chelsfield the costs are unlikely to vary dramatically depending on whether the legal expert is a licenced conveyancer or solicitor.